Oddly, the game is using CryEngine instead of Sonic Team's Hedgehog Engine, used in games like Sonic: Lost World. Sega producer Stephen Frost explained that Crytek's engine was a better fit because "you associate CryEngine with lush, tropical, beachy things. These are also things with which Sonic is associated, so they work together."

While CryEngine may be a good fit in terms of those features, developer Big Red Button still needed to alter the engine a bit. BRB CEO and visual director Bob Rafei told Official Nintendo Magazine (via Siliconera) that the engine can't normally do split-screen gaming. The engine had to be modified in order to support the Wii U GamePad. "We worked in close contact with [CryEngine creator] Crytek in Germany," he said, "and the team there is pretty excited about that as well. In the end, it was simply the right choice for the project."